LONDON: Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has announced that the former French colony will start teaching English in primary schools later this year, BBC reported.
“French is a spoil of war, but English is an international language,” Tebboune said.
Algeria gained independence from France in 1962 after a bloody eight-year war that left relations between the two countries strained.
The continued use of French in institutions and business administration is a sensitive subject in Algeria.
The official languages of the country are Arabic and Tamazight, which is spoken by the Amazigh or Berber minority.
President Tebboune was responding to growing demands from academics and undergraduates in an interview broadcast on state-run television on Saturday.
They argue that English should be taught earlier because it is the language of instruction at universities for those studying medicine and engineering.
Students in secondary school begin learning English at the age of 14, while students in primary school begin learning French at the age of 9.
The president’s remarks are an excerpt from a longer interview that will be aired in its entirety later on Sunday.
In the early 1990s, a similar initiative was launched to allow parents to choose between French and English for their children in junior school.
It sparked outrage in France, however, and a pro-French lobby within Algeria’s government demanded that the scheme be scrapped, which led to the education minister being fired.
